Mick Cleary: Why I love South African rugby

The Ireland-Springbok script - in essence, baddies against goodies - is a trope that needs revision and contextualising. 

South Africa captain Francois Pienaar receives the Rugby World Cup trophy from president Nelson
Mandela, wearing a Springboks jersey, after their victory over New Zealand on June 24, 1995. Pic: Ross Setford/AP

IT PAYS not to typecast South Africa. About a year before the country staged what was to become one of the seminal tournaments in World Cup history, the Nelson Mandela Rainbow Nation, low-flying Boeing 747 of 1995, Louis Luyt, the capo di capi of South African rugby, fronted a press conference at Heathrow to field questions about the upcoming event.

Not surprisingly, security was a major talking point, with fears that such was the crime rate in the country, South Africa was not fit to host such a showpiece spectacle.